Contents
All climate-damaging gases are converted into so-called CO₂ equivalents. By 2050 they should be at zero. This is required by the Climate Protection Act, which we will vote on in June. But how do you measure a country’s CO₂ emissions?
The number with which the Federal Council and the majority of Parliament want to measure Switzerland for the next 26 years comes from Ittigen near Bern. Regine Röthlisberger from the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) has her office there. Eight thick federal folders adorn it. Röthlisberger monitors Switzerland’s greenhouse gas statistics.
A calculated number
The number, which is expected to drop to zero by 2050, is currently 45 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalents. Röthlisberger and her team calculated this according to the specifications of the responsible UN organization for climate change. The number was calculated “because we cannot measure Switzerland’s emissions as a whole,” explains Röthlisberger.
If you wanted to measure them, you would have to measure on every exhaust, on every industrial chimney and even on every cow. That is still possible in the handful of cement works in Switzerland. “But if you had to measure that for every car, every heater, every energy consumer, you’d quickly realize that you were reaching your limits,” says Röthlisberger.
Legend:
The CO₂ emissions are not measured directly, but calculated.
IMAGO/Design Pics
The Bafu therefore takes the average emissions, for example from a car or a cow, and extrapolates them.
Her team is helped by the fact that Switzerland imports all fossil fuels such as oil. The quantity is recorded at the border. It becomes more difficult with greenhouse gases that are not directly attributable to energy imports. The climate effect of an old landfill, for example.
Not just statistics
All the calculations are not just for statistics. The person in charge of greenhouse gas statistics says that the corresponding responsibilities can be assigned in this way. “We know which industry uses how much energy. Then we also know where the big levers are that would have to be applied in order to reduce these emissions.”
According to Bafu, the biggest lever is traffic. This sector is responsible for a third of greenhouse gas emissions. The building and industry sectors follow with a quarter each.
criticism of measurement
The greenhouse gas statistics from the Bern suburb did not go uncommented in the Federal Palace. The SVP argues that immigration is being forgotten. “If the population grows, then that has to be taken into account in terms of CO₂ emissions,” says SVP National Councilor Mike Egger.
The correct measurement must be per capita. If immigration were taken into account, Switzerland would be in a much better position than it is today, adds Egger.
The proponents counter this: If CO₂ emissions fall to zero – as required – then it no longer matters how many heads the zero is distributed over. Rather, Green President Balthasar Glättli criticizes the fact that certain emissions are not statistically recorded at all – for example those from imported goods and services: “It is a huge problem that we have a lot of so-called gray emissions that we import,” says Glättli .
He cites air traffic, shipping and production abroad in general as examples. If you also consider all these emissions, Switzerland’s CO₂ emissions more than double.
In the Bernese agglomeration, the FOEN keeps accurate records every year. If the Swiss electorate sets itself new goals in June, Ittigen calculates precisely whether these will also be achieved.